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The Alabama Solution
Join us for an important screening of The Alabama Solution, followed by a community conversation around detention conditions in Oklahoma. The Alabama Solution is a powerful documentary that exposes the realities of Alabama’s prison system and centers the voices of those living within it. The brutality shown in the documentary is not unique. In a way, it shows every prison because of the violence and oppression that prison breeds. The film invites us to confront the human cost of incarceration, the forces that allow injustice to persist, and the urgent need for accountability and systemic change. Join advocates working across issues of incarceration, immigration detention, and the death penalty in Oklahoma for a community conversation after the screening that discusses how the film relates to what is happening in Oklahoma and actions you can take to fight injustice in our state.
Hosted by the Tulsa Artist Fellowship, the Julius Jones Institute, and the ACLU of Oklahoma, this event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served, and we will be joined by local community organizations who will provide free resources and ways to stay involved in advocacy efforts.
Asset Forfeiture Bill Important For Reform Effort, ACLU OK Says
Under the bill, a citizen can recover his or her attorney’s fees if they successfully contest a forfeiture action. The bill cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously on Tuesday.
The bill now goes to the full Oklahoma Senate for consideration.
Kiesel said the committee vote shows that Oklahomans remain concerned about the civil asset forfeiture system. “It is unfortunate that efforts at wholesale reform have stalled for the moment, but we remain hopeful that the voices of large numbers of Oklahomans demanding even more reforms will eventually be heard and will one day become law,” he said.
Kiesel praised the work of legislators on both sides of the aisle for bringing this important issue to the forefront.
“Because of the work done by lawmakers such as Senators Kyle Loveless and David Holt and Representative Cory Williams, Oklahomans are more aware of the flaws in the system. Their ability to transcend normal partisan divides is a testament to their leadership and to t
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For my grandmother: A receipt
An essay about poverty, hunger and Oklahoma City’s anti-panhandling ordinance
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Legislature Should Stop Trying To Undermine Supreme Court Ruling, ACLU’s Kiesel Says
OKLA
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Legislature Should Move To Expand Medicaid, ACLU OK Executive Director Says
One way to do that, he said, was to expand Medicaid coverage. Kiesel pointed to a 2013 ACLU study that called on states to expand Medicaid coverage as a way to make communities safer. In the study, entitled Healthcare Not Handcuffs, the ACLU called for Medicaid expansion under the federal Affordable Care Act.
“By dramatically expanding and funding healthcare coverage to millions of currently uninsured people, the ACA represents a remarkable opportunity for criminal justice and drug policy reform advocates to advance efforts for policies promoting safe and healthy communities, without excessive reliance on the criminal justice solutions that have become so prevalent under the War on Drugs,” the study said.
According to the study, the expansion of the federal Medicaid programs represents an opportunity to “recast substance use disorders and drug use as a matter for public health rather than criminal justice.”
“This could be a huge tool to help fight crime and combat drug-related crimes,” Kiesel said.
He said a dramatic expansion of healthcare coverage would allow Oklahomans struggling with drug use to obtain community-based care and treatment, instead of incarceration.
Kiesel said state officials could harness the power of the ACA as low-cost and effective alternative to incarceration for defendants with substance use or mental health disorders.
A report, released by the Tulsa-based Oklahoma Policy I
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